Details are slim (and our Japanese is horrible), but as far as we can tell, Wagonist is nothing short of spectacular. The amazing piece of excellence below is what Google comes up with when you plug in a block of text from this distribution site:

"Wagons and minivans," said one narrow category, and Tuning, including parts and dress-up, will introduce the parts thoroughly after every magazine . . . a new sense of such a wagon "Wagonisuto" [Wagonist] is. Part Introduction to the course itself, like those involved in the various parts will give information and suggestions. Of course, their car will appear, just extraordinarily Supesharumeikuwagon [Special Make Wagon]. Heard from domestic wagon, to be Inpotowagon [Import Wagon] mind, always dress up and decorate a new mode of Chuninguappu [Tuning Up] magazine. Other News & Information guides and shop, full of horrifying [?] article in the wear test and implement practical parts, and is the subject of wagons to minivans corner roe."

Oh, Japan — bad translations of your beautiful language never cease to amuse. Wagons ho!

(Hat tip to Sean!)

Despite everything going on with Toyota, and all the apparent reticence on their part to address safety issues, it's important to recognize investigations happen all the time. Still, it's not going to be a good day for the company as The Daily Show just launched their new feature: Toyotathon Of Death!

The 2010 Prius isn't under the current recall, so there's probably no risk of accelerating out of control and then having your brakes fail. At least we hope not...

[AP via CanadianBusiness.com]

The program has recently become a source of controversy, with Iowa's Senator Chuck Grassely seeking an accounting of administrative costs related to the $2 billion program. We're guessing this visualization of what we already knew doesn't help.

[PoliticalMathBlog via @UsedCarNews]

With 993 screamin' cubic centimeters of pure 3-banger power under the hood, the Charade had what it took to make kids cover their ears as it buzzed past. But for real off-road madness, you needed the '82 Daihatsu Atrai microvan, which we see keeping up with a phalanx of dirt-bikers.

So magical, in fact, that the extremely conservative and boring '84 Corona became, in Toyota's words, "Fun To Drive." Perhaps one of our Japanese readers could explain what place (if any) the five totally geeked-out Corona drivers in the ads held in 80s Japanese popular culture.

To be honest with y'all, I was disappointed by the lack of venom in the comments and emails about the Honda and Ford repair posts; oh, sure, we had some readers claiming I was full of shit because their (insert name of American vehicle here) has been as dependable as death and/or taxes, or that their (insert name of German vehicle here) was really as simple and durable as an AK-47, but where were the statistics? The facts? Still, it's safe to assume that most members of the Silent Majority think we just pull these judgments out of our asses here at El Jalop, when in fact we're all about the science! So, in the interest of science, I've recruited Ghost Ride The Whip Box designer, VW Rabbit sedan 24 Hours Of LeMons racer, '76 Audi Fox driver, and all-around junkyard dog Casadelshawn to help with the first episode in the Junkyard Nightmare Build Quality Challenge series, and we hit an East Bay self-service junkyard to get you the objective truth!

Here's how the JNBQC works: we hit the junkyard and pick one apiece German, Japanese, and American vehicle, from the same era and originally priced within spittin' distance of one another, and we perform the same common junkyard-parts-extraction job on each. No shop manuals, no oddball tools, nothing special; just our regular junkyard toolboxes and our Cro-Magnon-style approach to Field Expedient Parts Removal. Then we analyze the pain-in-the-assness, otherwise known as the PITA Quotient™, of the operation and rate the relevant factors. Today we're going with a simple task: door panel removal on early-90s entry-level luxury sedans. Got it? Let's get started!

1991 Audi 80

First up is this 1991 Audi 80. The non-Quattro 80 listed for $21,050, and I was expecting some serious Teutonic Complexity Hell on this thing, I tell you what. Click the first image below to see what happened.

1991 Lexus ES250

Car shoppers in 1991 could buy a brand-new Lexus ES250 for $21,300. Did the Japanese automotive industry's love for weird electronic gadgetry make for horrifyingly complicated door panel removal? Click the first image below to find out.

1993 Buick LeSabre Limited

The 1993 Buick LeSabre Limited had a list price of $21,735, making it the most expensive car of our group, but early-90s-recession inflation made it worth $20,486 in 1991 dollars. How does Detroit stack up next to the Germans and Japanese? Only one way to know- click the image below!

Radio control is so old-fashioned. You know who used radios? Patton's army. That's how old radios are. "Laser" control is where it's at. And while the "laser" appears to be a bright light similar to what you'd find on a Nerf gun sight, the use of light sensors on the car to determine location of said laser light and vector the car toward it instead of signals from a controller is an interesting twist on an already interesting concept.

For just about $65 a pop, sign us up.

[Getty Images, Technabob]

The engines, built primarily by Aioi Works of Japan's Diesel United, Ltd, are available in 6 through 14 cylinder versions, all inline engines.

The cylinder bore is just under 38" and the stroke is just over 98". Each cylinder displaces 111,143 cubic inches (1820 liters) and produces 7780 horsepower. Total displacement comes out to 1,556,002 cubic inches (25,480 liters) for the fourteen cylinder version.

That means the 89 foot long 14 cylinder version produces 108,920 HP and 5,608,312 lb/ft of torque at 102 rpm. Not bad. It also weight 2300 tons with the crankshaft alone weighing 300 tons. Our only question — does it fit in a Fiero?

[bath.co.uk via TTAC]

Perhaps one of our Japanese-speaking readers might give us a translation of the dialogue delivered by the two men in their bizarre silver-and-white striped suits and their sentient Sprinter Caribbean companion. Compare this fine ad to the lame-o Official Car Of Santa Claus ad that we got in North America!

Not much more than a box on tiiiiiiny wheels, the two Roox models do what all kei cars do best, fly under the regulator's radar. There are two models, the Roox and Roox E. We find ourselves wading into dangerous cultural and comedic waters, but we have to mention the oddness of one version having narrow, angular headlights and the other have big round headlights. A cornucopia of tasteless jokes stand by at the ready, all of them horrible.

But in any case, the cars come with power sliding doors, abnormally large interiors and a turbocharged intercooled 660cc micromotor developing 63 HP. They're also cute as a button.

At first glance, it looks like a small Datsun, an SP310 Fairlady for instance, but the details don’t add up. There is also this peculiar badge:

And a blurred model name on the quarter panel:

The badge would make you think Prince Motor Company, the guys who made the original Skyline which lives on as the Nissan GT–R, but—as far as I know—Prince never made a small roadster.

What makes the whole situation even more baffling is that I ran this photo by my friend Zsolt Csikós, who is a living and breathing encyclopedia of old Japanese cars, and even he came up blank. And when the guy who, roused from his sleep, can tell you year-by-year changes on fourty-year-old non-exotic cars comes up blank, you know you’re in trouble.

Unfortunately, the embedded metadata offers no clue:

SUZUKA, JAPAN - OCTOBER 04: Kazuki Nakajima of Japan and Williams rides in a vintage car during the drivers parade before the Japanese Formula One Grand Prix at Suzuka Circuit on October 4, 2009 in Suzuka, Japan. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

So it’s up to you now, expert morphologists of a bygone Japan: what the hell was Kazuki riding in before he brought his Williams home to a not particularly shiny 15th place?

Update: Jim–Bob and Graverobber to the rescue! It’s a Toyota Publica, pronounced paprika.

Photo Credit: Mark Thompson/Getty Images

If you live in the area, Tokyo Families Magazine has directions to the park, which looks like this from space:

You can see more photos of the place on Flickr.

Photo Credit: WrightFlyer/Panoramio

The 2-minute short, produced by Google’s Japanese subsidiary, focuses on a pet peeve common in Europe and apparently in Japan as well: the freaking out over published photographs of license plates. Google employs algorithms and humans to blur them out in European and Japanese cities depicted on Street View.

As you can see if you watch the video, this sometimes entails burning the midnight oil. Beware: the background music will stick in your head for the rest of the day.

We've got 40 years of Honda ads here, from North America, Japan, and Israel. Civics that love leaded gas, 600s that force towns to resize all their parking spaces, and NSXs marketed with Honda nameplates. Just click on the thumbnail to head straight for the original post.
When you're done here, you might enjoy our favorite VW ads, then continue your car-advertising overdose with the Datsun, Toyota, Renault, General Motors, British Leyland, Ford/Lincoln/Mercury, and Chevrolet ads.

1984 City Turbo	1988 Cyber Sports CRX	1969 1300
1978 Civic	1978 Civic	1971 600
1994 VTEC	1991 NSX	2004 Civic
1988 Cyber Sports	1995 Civic	1986 CRX

As you saw in our Ten Things Your Kids Will Never Experience In A New Car and 25 Most Redundant Technologies posts, even the lowest of low-end cars intended for the North American market usually come standard with features once considered to be luxurious extras. Power windows. Keyless remotes. Air conditioning. If you're a super-cheapskate who doesn't want to pay for those bells and whistles, you're pretty much out of luck. How did it come to this?
Many of our illustrious commenters, most recently Skitter, bring up this brilliant essay penned by Jack Baruth (aka our own ViergangFuchs) over on Speed:Sport:Life. Here's an excerpt:

Why did power windows cost more than roll-up windows in 1973? It's easy to understand; it took a man, or a team of men, earning the aforementioned living wage, longer to build, assemble, and install power window components. In 2009, the whole deal is "subbed out" to a supplier who produces snap-in power window assemblies. It's usually cheaper to get 100,000 power window assemblies than it is to get 50,000 roll-up assemblies and 50,000 power assemblies, plus you don't have to train the $12/hour temps who (don't tell anyone!) actually do a lot of "low-skill" jobs on American assembly lines how to install two different kinds of window assemblies. The door can be made simpler because it doesn't have to accommodate two different kinds of controls, which leads to more volume discounts, and so on.

[Speed:Sport:Life]

The Gawker Server Hamsters won't let me show you all 450 cars and trucks (actually more than 480 by now) at once- they go into an angry rodent frenzy that just isn't pretty when I try- but we'll get to all of them this way. Next up… maybe the trucks? The Detroit compacts? Who can say? For now, enjoy the Datsuns, Toyotas, Hondas, Mazdas, and Mitsubishis. I've included some Ford and Chrysler captive imports, such as the Plymouth Fire Arrow and the Ford Courier, since they're 100% Japanese designed and built.

1966 Datsun	1969 Datsun	1970 Datsun	1970 Datsun
1971 Datsun	1971 Datsun	1971 Datsun	1971 Toyota
1972 Datsun	1973 Datsun	1973 Datsun	1973 Ford
1974 Datsun	1975 Datsun	1975 Toyota	1976 Honda
1977 Honda	1977 Toyota	1977 Toyota	1978 Datsun
1978 Dodge	1978 Dodge	1979 Datsun	1979 Honda
1980 Plymouth	1980 Datsun	1980 Datsun	1980 Honda
1980 Plymouth	1981 Toyota	1981 Datsun	1981 Datsun
1981 Mazda	1982 Honda	1982 Datsun	1982 Mazda
1982 Toyota	1983 Honda	1983 Toyota	1983 Nissan
1983 Toyota	1984 Toyota	1984 Toyota	1984 Toyota
1984 Toyota	1984 Toyota	1985 Toyota	1985 Mazda
1985 Toyota	1985 Toyota	1985 Toyota	1986 Toyota
1986 Toyota	1986 Toyota	1986 Honda	1987 Honda
1987 Toyota	1987 Mitsubishi	1987 Subaru	1988 Mitsubishi
1989 Subaru

Itasha is what happens when you combine people obsessed with manga, anime and video games (referred to as otaku) with unsuspecting cars. Notice how almost all of the girls pictured are actually bizarre, full-sized dolls.

The trend has been around for a while and, recently, street festivals to celebrate the bizarre car fetish have started to occur. In this case, the festival was in Washimiya, Japan. Though typically the realm of Kei cars and tiny Japanese vans, there's at least one Lotus and one ALfa Romeo involved in this showing.

Please, American teenagers, DO NOT EMULATE!

All Photos Credit: Kiyoshi Ota/Getty Images

These ads may not be quite as punishingly 80s as the legendary Cocaine Factory Duster commercial, but they're up there with the rest of the 80s Car Ad contenders. Check out the special scooter, designed to fit in the back of the City!

Because these aren't meant for your average R/C hobbyist, the starting price is over $6,000 for the base model and $15,000 for the full model equipped with an exterior. It may seem like a lot of change for a robotic car, but you get a pre-configured vehicle equipped with CCD stereo cameras, an image recognition module, WiFi, a gyro sensor, acceleration sensors, and a host of other equipment.

ZMP, the company behind the model, plans to sell 200 of these vehicles and claims to already have 100 orders for the creepy/friendly robots. We'd normally complain about this being the beginning of the end of human driving as we know it, but we think cell phones with QWERTY keyboards have already done enough to take human beings out of the driving experience. [Nikkei]